


Of Heroes

by babybirdblues



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Gen, I wrote this the day before House of Hades came out actually, Lots of Angst, Of sorts?, ambigious ending, and then it goes AU, because I have yet to read House of Hades, spoilers up to Mark of Athena, that is a good way to tag it, yes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-16
Updated: 2013-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-29 15:23:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1006988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babybirdblues/pseuds/babybirdblues
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe the Camps should rethink going up to Olympus on the Solstices; or maybe Percy should rethink it.  Percy sort of likes the idea of a nice, quiet year.  Is that too much to ask?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Heroes

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted something where the Olympians were parents to their mortal children. But then it turned into this.
> 
> Oops.
> 
> The ending is ambigious because I'm probably gonna write a sequel. For the moment though it's up in the air. It's whatever you want: that's the ending.

Percy knows what's happening.   
Well, mostly.  
The gods are in some sort of hissy fit over some sort of thing that happened while the kids' backs were turned. Percy's just not sure how it started. Because everything was going great! It really was. After everything they've been through in the last few years, everything was calm and fine and the gods were getting along - with themselves (both their siblings/children and their other halves) and their mortal offspring.  
Now - well, now Percy and Jason are trying to keep the ceiling from collapsing as their dads go at it.  
He'd rather be awkwardly trying to pretend he slept last night (not screamed himself out of Tartarus nightmares) while avoiding any odd looks he got for not being plastered to Annabeth's side. (They weren't the same. She wasn't. He wasn't. It was hard enough dealing with your own nightmares when you came out of Tartarus; you can't deal with someone else's.) It's enough they're working on it. Anyways, it's not any of their business - except maybe Athena and Poseidon's and Athena is probably happy.  
But they're still in it together even if they're not, you know, together together. It's the little things that matter.  
It's the little things that get them through. Like out of Tartarus for example: if Percy had of been alone - if Annabeth had of been alone - if Nico and the others hadn't have been coming for them on the other side of the doors - well, maybe those are bigger things.   
Maybe it's the way he can feel Grover in the back of his mind. Or the way he knows Tyson prefers him not dead but will take him dead as long as he's still around. The way Annabeth's smile is just slightly lopsided when she's concentrating because she can't focus enough to keep it straight. The way Nico focuses on him so intently it's like he's trying to take care of Percy some days. The way Piper wants Jason to break the rules more often. The way Jason does this weird twitch as he tries to break the rules but can't bring himself to (Percy's laughed himself sick on more than one occasion). The way Leo wishes he had a translator to make everything more relatable. The way Frank holds Hazel's hand like she's still going to disappear on him, or he's going to disappear on her. The way Hazel furrows her eyebrows when she's learning something new, something that wasn't there in the forties.  
Yeah. It's those things. Those smaller things that matter and keep them together. Keep them moving and fighting and whole. (No matter how much Tartarus chips at the cracks it made in Percy's soul.)  
So, not anyone's business that Tartarus cracked them a bit more than they're letting on.  
Right now they have to deal with godly parents. Godly parents who are having a hissy fit.  
Of course, it's just Percy's luck that that's when things go to Tartarus. He fights off a wince at the phrase; he probably needs a new one. The younger kids from Camp are almost all out. Annabeth's just leading the last of her siblings out the door while Piper's got Ruth, a new addition to the Eirene Cabin. The poor girl's only eight and she's terrified out of her mind. (Truthfully, Percy might have been too at that age; he's pretty sure he's been terrified a lot in the last few years.) Ruth's a pretty sweet kid. She likes when it's quiet and calm and when people get along. Totally the opposite of now. Anyways, so Annabeth in the doorway, Piper with Ruth. Except Piper's still a quick dash away from the door.  
The ceiling starts collapsing.  
Percy just wants to reiterate that.  
The ceiling starts to collapse. Do you want to know where? Right on top of Piper and Ruth. Yeah. Jason throws a panicked look over his shoulder but he's making a hurricane and absorbing lightning strikes as they fly off Zeus. Percy has it easier. Poseidon doesn't have as much water - yet, something inside him says - so he just has to make sure that there's a thicker wall of water in with the hurricane force winds. Simple. Percy can do that with his eyes closed.  
Probably a good thing. He makes a sort of yelp - which after spending a few weeks with Jason during the quest and then nearly a year after it recovering doesn't embarrass him - in Jason's direction and then bolts for Piper. He barely makes it. But, at least she's not a Piper and Ruth pancake on the floor.  
(Is Annabeth going to get the rights to redesign Olympus again?)  
"Thanks Percy," Piper's voice is strained and shaky. She knows how close they came to death then but she's trying to be strong - for Ruth. The daughter of Eriene is already sobbing. She's not one for war and battles: more so than her two siblings, who will fight if needed. (Percy makes a mental note to talk to Chiron about healing classes.)  
"No problem. Now get going before Jason decides to fry me." He gets a laugh for that and his smile isn't as strained. But it's a legitimate concern. Jason might fry him if he let Piper get hurt. His cousin is sort of, angry, at the moment. It's not at Percy - definitely not; he should be watching that language really. Percy might be a bad influence (and Piper might get to see Jason break the rules soon) - but there have always been cases of misdirected anger. Gods know what Percy would do if Annabeth got hurt (again, a traitorous voice in his mind whispers underneath the rush of the ocean in his ears).  
A stray lightning bolt hits the ground a few feet to their right. Ruth screams in Piper's arms before going completely quiet. No sound of crying, no sound of fast breathing, Percy's not even sure she is breathing actually. That's probably a bad thing. No that's a pretty horrible thing.  
"Get her out of here Piper!"  
"Okay! Okay! Take care of-"  
Percy rolls his eyes. "Duh."  
She's relieved as she retreats, tracing Annabeth's steps out of the throne room. Percy's relieved all the young kids are out and safe. He sort of wonders if Reyna is plotting their murder right now, since, you know, there were some kids from Camp Jupiter here. Jason promised their safety. Percy's not sure if that was kept. Though, if Reyna wants to kill them, she sort of has to get them alive first. That might be a problem if Zeus and Poseidon don't stop fighting.  
Another bolt of lightning crashes against the stones a few feet away from him.  
"Hey! Puny mortal here!"  
But neither his dad nor his uncle looks at him. Jason shares in his frustrated - and probably extremely grumpy - look. They probably shouldn't even be fighting. Chiron only let him off of bed rest a few days ago, Jason about a week before that. (Had the Apollo Cabin had their way, Percy's sure he'd still be in the med bay.)  
Grumbling, Percy darts around a chunk of ceiling. He figures if he can get closer to his dad he might be able to be heard at least.   
He doesn't realise anything's wrong until he stumbles. Because, to tell the truth, Percy didn't even feel it enter his body. It's as he's moving, darting this way and that (maybe having to flip over a few times) that he feels it, the xiphos moves farther into his chest cavity with each movement; almost like it's cursed. Considering that it was either a god or a demigod who put it there, there was a pretty spectacular chance about that.  
"Oh."  
It's a soft puff, an exhale, but it's the best thing that's happened since this entire fit started. Hera happened to be the closet god (she must have been trying to do the same thing Percy himself was) and she heard him.  
"Perseus?"  
He ignores her though, because she's kind of an old hag. He can't trust her and he needs to get to his dad. Just a bit more. He can ignore the xiphos for a bit more. Keeping the water up, protecting the structure and Jason and himself and keeping their fathers apart - those are the important things at the moment. He needs to get closer to his dad too. He needs to get closer to talk to him.   
'One foot in front of the other Percy Jackson. One foot in front of the other. You did it in Tartarus, you can do it here.'  
But he doesn't make it.  
Hera's there as he sinks to his knees wheezing. He wishes she weren't but, well, what can you do? He can't really tell her to go away. She's the Queen of the Gods; he's in her home.  
"Perseus!"  
It takes a minute to realise that the winds and lightning have stopped. Only the water remains and that's because Percy's controlling it - not his dad. It's odd. They were fighting, barely controlled just seconds ago. Now they're stopped. Percy can't figure out why.  
"Percy! Percy, hey you have to hold on okay? Annabeth and Nico will never forgive me if I don't bring you back down from here."  
Jason sounds funny. Almost like he's underwater - or what underwater is supposed to sound like if you weren't a son or daughter of Poseidon. He's kneeling beside Percy (who's being held up by Hera on the other side, which is a very odd situation). He looks shaky, like something's really wrong.  
There probably is.  
But Percy can't really get enough air. It's like he's drowning again. Like the muskegs up in Alaska that he barely escaped from thanks to Hazel and Frank. Except there's a lot of pain too. A fire burning in his side, on the outside and he's feeling cold. Cold and fuzzy and he can't breathe.  
That's not good at all.  
There's shouting off to the side. Percy thinks it's important but it's not really registering. He hears bits and pieces. Like an old crackly radio.  
"-son! Zeus, he's - on!"  
"We ca - Fates!"  
" - n't care! Apollo hea-"  
Percy's vision starts to shake. The ceiling warps, pieces that look like they're firmly in place one second appear to be collapsing the next. The floor rises up to swallow him. The walls shatter and crumble. Basically it moves in ways that make him feel sick. But then Jason makes a sound and shouts; Percy realises he's not shaking, the entire room is. No, the entirety of Mount Olympus: maybe Manhattan. His dad's doing it. The Earth Shaker. Poseidon is causing earthquakes because? Because why?  
"Da-" he has to clear his throat. There's something stuck in it - liquid? Air? Is he just choking over nothing? (It tastes like copper. Percy doesn't want to remember what tastes like copper and fills up your throat from the inside.) "Dad. Stop. Stop, please?"  
It stops. Percy's surprised. The gods don't stop when you ask them to. You have to do a whole bunch of quests and nearly die and - there are fingers on his face and it sort of feels like he's being dipped in ice. He blinks a few times to get everything in focus.  
"Oh. He-hey, Nico."  
Looking up at the son of Hades Percy can't decide what emotion is on his face. It's weird. Before he could sort of read Nico - sort of, not always because there were times when he didn't understand the kid. But he doesn't get why Nico looks so devastated.  
"We have to-" Jason's voice is muffled, somewhere off in the distance. It cuts out as Nico looks up.  
"You take it out, he dies."  
Percy's pretty sure he doesn't imagine Nico's voice cracking. But then again Jason's is sounding funny too, and it's not just the muffling that's causing it. Percy just can't figure out what is. Take what out and who dies? He wishes Annabeth were here. She'd at least tell him straight out what was happening because she couldn't stand him being dim any longer. She'd try to make it so he wasn't Seaweed Brain any longer. Well, at least have seaweed for a brain.  
The coughing fit that comes when he starts to laugh takes Percy by surprise. But it sort of connects things together: more so when he can't breathe - even after the coughing subsides. "Ni-"  
Nico's eyes flicker down to his face, wide and terrified. "It's, you're okay Percy."  
But he's not. There's a xiphos wedged into his side, right between his ribs and puncturing his lung. That's what stopped him from getting to Poseidon. That's what caused Hera to call out. That's what's causing the pain and fuzziness - well the blood loss is causing the fuzziness. His body's going into shock. He doesn't have Achilles' curse anymore. He doesn't have the power from the River Styx; he's not nearly invincible anymore.  
He doesn't get to say it. Doesn't have to. Not to Nico. Jason keeps muttering about how they're going to save him. How they can make it work. But Nico's looking at Percy like he knows. It takes more than Percy wants to admit to raise his arm. He does though, because he has to let Nico know that it's okay. So, when his hand rests against Nico's cheek he doesn't get offended that Nico flinches. (He probably would too if one of his friends were dying in front of him like this.)  
"Sorry, Nic."  
Nico doesn't get to reply. Poseidon pushes him and Jason away with a wall of water. It does nothing but wash the old blood away for fresh blood to take its place. At least it's stopped itching. (Percy's sort of wonders about the fact that it itches now that he realises he's covered in blood, his own blood.)  
"Percy, my son. We can save you, but you will no longer be mortal." Poseidon strokes Percy's hair back gently. It's almost like he's afraid that touching Percy is going to crumble him into tiny pieces. It's not. Percy's stronger than that. After all, he's been laying on the floor for how long with a xiphos sticking out of him and isn't dead yet?  
But that's beside the point. He knows what his dad's offering. He was offered it once before. Percy doesn't want it. He might have, once upon a time. But he had a long time to think about it. A long time to realise that no, he doesn't want to be a god. So, he tells his dad that.  
"I don't want to be a god, dad."  
Poseidon's head lowers. It takes a few minutes for Percy to realise he's crying. He's crying. For Percy. Because Percy is dying.  
"I love you, dad; but I don't want to be a god. I can't do forever."  
The grip's weak, but he manages it. Manages to cling to his father's hand and hold on like it's his only lifeline. Right now it just might be.   
\---  
Dying is slow.  
That's really the only thing Percy can say at the moment. Because it is. Well, this death at least. So, it should be: today's death is slow. Not that he's ever really died, died before. The Styx was kind of close enough. Sort of.  
Sighing he hears distant shouting, even as quiet as it is he recognises Annabeth.  
"The Fleece!" Annabeth is gasping, but it's her voice. She must have run up the stairs. Or whatever is left of it. "Shadow travel to Thalia's tree! The Fleece. It might save him. It brought Thalia back."  
Hades looks away. He won't do it. He has no love for Percy. In fact, Percy's pretty sure that Hades might have been behind this. Stab Percy and let him die. Fun thing to watch on the Summer Solstice.   
"Then Herm-"  
Hermes rests his hands on Annabeth's shoulders. Or at least Percy assumes that. He can't see much from his position on the floor. "I'm sorry. He's not stable enough to move and Apollo cannot heal him."  
Percy wonders about the clarity of his hearing. Actually he wonders about his clarity in general. Isn't his life supposed to flash before his eyes? Instead he's stuck in his head slash body and listening to the people he loves watch him die. At least his mom isn't here. It's bad enough everyone else is.  
"He'll die if you don't. At least this way he has a chance."  
The sky rumbles. "We would save him. However, my nephew has denied the gift of godhood." The again goes unsaid. "There is no other way."  
Annabeth sobs. If Percy could he'd yell. Because really, he's pretty sure it was a god who did this. They got all the demigods out of the room (except Jason and Percy, himself). So, it's their fault in the first place.  
"So it's okay when your daughter is being brought back? It's okay for Thalia but not Percy?"  
Zeus snarls. Percy's terrified Annabeth has gone too far, upset the wrong god. It's bad enough they've upset Hera. (But Zeus.) Nothing happens though. Annabeth continues to cry and breathe and just generally stay alive. Percy likes her alive, really, truly.  
"We cannot do it," the heaviness in Zeus' voice is unusual. "If I could take away my nephew's suffering in another way - but it cannot be done by us."  
Percy really would have continued to listen to the conversation, argument, whatever. He really would have. But Nico shuffled forwards then, disregarding Poseidon and his protective hovering.   
"I'll take him."  
The gods go silent.   
It becomes a pressure, one that begins to choke Percy. (It probably would have it Poseidon hadn't been running water over him - through him.) He wonders if the others feel the pressure as much as he does at the moment. Maybe. It's hard to tell. Nico seems to be ignoring it if he does.  
His friend leans over him, brushing wet hair out of Percy's eyes. "Percy I need you to focus on me, okay?"  
"Hmmm?"  
Nico's devastated look is still there, but it's undercut with a look of determination. "You need to focus on me when I shadow walk us. It's going to be dangerous but we have to. If you have any chance of living, it's this."  
Okay. Percy likes this option. Living but not being a god - good option.  
"Neph-"  
"Son."  
"No."  
Wow. Okay. Percy's never heard Nico talk back to Zeus, let alone Hades. He can't say he's all that mad. Though, he does feel guilty that Nico's going to get in trouble for this. He is. Percy knows it. (You can't talk back to both Hades and Zeus and not get in trouble.)  
But Poseidon stops any fits of rage with a simple sentence. "Take care of my son, Nico di Angelo."  
A breath stutters on Percy's cheek. He realises it's from Nico. He's leaning in close to hold Percy as still as he can manage. It's probably the only reason he hears Nico's response. "I'm trying."  
Percy blinks.   
In moments, Poseidon is letting go of his hand; Annabeth's sobs have began anew. Jason's at her side though, so she'll be okay. They'll figure something out. She has someone to boss around, even if it's not Percy.  
He sort of wishes he had the strength to say something, anything.  
(But he doesn't. He can barely breathe.)  
His head lolls against his shoulder, and Nico's clavicle, before everything turns dark.


End file.
